A lot of North American 12 volt stuff uses red as positive and black as
ground. This is the standard battery cable colour code for automotive use,
and everyone is familiar with it that has ever had to jump start a car, or
hook up a battery charger.

"Graham Stephen" wrote in message
...

"Mike O'Dell" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Graham Stephen" wrote:

What are the harmonised colours used in the EU for 12V DC wiring on
yachts?
My suspicions are blue and red, but considering what has been done to 3
phase AC goodness knows. (Were the "new" colours used anywhere in the
EU
or
world prior to that directive?)

regards

Graham



ABYC states that all new construction use RED & YELLOW for
DC + and -, respectively. this is because in the US,
BLACK is "hot" in AC circuits and RED/BLACK is a potentially
lethal combination if "black wires" are confused.

distinctions between 12VDC and 24VDC are somewhat more problematic

i don't have the spec handy but the general approach i've seen is
RED is +12VDC and ORANGE is + "other" VDC. if the boat is
12/24, then ORANGE would be +24VDC. again, in new construction,
- would be YELLOW. generally both DC systems will share a common -,
so the colors would be RED/YELLOW and ORANGE/YELLOW.

HOWEVER, given the paucity of commercial twin-core marine
DC wire with other than RED/YELLOW cores, one should be extremely
careful - in those cases RED might well be 24VDC since ORANGE
is seldom available in that form.

this is not a feature.

-mo

Hmmmm......

I don't think that the ABYC has much relevance in Europe. Blue is the
colour for 230V AC neutral and it seems to be being used for negative on
12V
DC. Red has not been used in the UK for many years in portable equipment
flexible live connections. It has however been used for building
installation where black is the neutral. The building installation
colours
are now brown and blue as per the flexible. Three phases are now brown,
black and grey. They were red yellow and blue. Confused? Many are.
Hopefully in a few years time everything will be the same across Europe
with
the increase in safety it will bring. Until then?????

My three year old (German) boat is wired with positive red and negative
blue. I just wonder whether that is the European standard. Maybe I'd
better stick with that.

Graham